Q&A with Carlos Quentin

April 12, 2013_San Diego_| The Padres’ Carlos Quentin after he struck out to end the eight inning during the Padres game against the Rockies at Petco Park in San Diego on Friday. | Mandatory Photo Credit: Photo Hayne Palmour IV/U-T San Diego

April 12, 2013_San Diego_| The Padres’ Carlos Quentin after he struck out to end the eight inning during the Padres game against the Rockies at Petco Park in San Diego on Friday. | Mandatory Photo Credit: Photo Hayne Palmour IV/U-T San Diego

UT: Do you put yourself at any extra risk when you’re in the field? Like, more so than the average player?

CQ: I try to play the game hard. I try to dive. I like to be out there for my teammates. There’s been things that I’ve tried to cut back on – diving head first for balls. I’ll try to slide and sometimes that doesn’t happen, but the game’s the game. That’s the thing people forget is that it’s 162, and that it’s not just one instance, it’s an accumulation of different things.

UT: Well, you’ll also look at a guy like Yasiel Puig, who’s amazing, but who is also going to get hurt. So while one second you’re going “that was a spectacular play,” the next you’re going “maybe he shouldn’t have done that.”

CQ: There’s a good point to that. There are guys that play hard and you gotta respect how they play because that’s how they’ve been taught, and that’s how you feel like the game should be played. Mike Trout plays like that. Bryce Harper plays like that, and you respect that because they’re young players, and as a little bit of an older player, you like to see that, but that same time – how do you tell someone not to play that way? That’s how you got there, so, it’s an interesting debate – one that, as I’ve been trained to play, I’ll always try harder instead oftrying not to get hurt.